Jacint Verdaguer: Life, Works, and Legacy of a Catalan Poet
Jacint Verdaguer: A Literary Icon of Catalonia
Jacint Verdaguer is celebrated as the most famous poet of the Catalan language in the nineteenth century. Born on May 17, 1845, he entered the seminary to study for ten years. In 1865, he received two awards at the Floral Games. He was ordained a priest in 1870.
Soon after, he suffered an illness that caused severe headaches. He was advised to embark on a journey to the West Indies to recover his health and experience the setting of the epic he was working on, the Atlantic Ocean. In 1877, his work Atlantis was awarded at the Floral Games. In 1886, he traveled to the Holy Land and underwent a profound personal crisis.
He then took a more spiritual path, engaging in practices like exorcisms. This led to the suspension of his license to say Mass in 1893, and he went to the Gleva shrine. Feeling imprisoned there, the country divided into two factions: those who wanted him to return to the church and those who did not. In 1895, he was sent to a house in Barcelona to perform exorcisms on a woman. After strong confrontations, the church retracted its decision, and he was rehabilitated. Shortly after, he contracted tuberculosis and died on June 10, 1902.
Atlantis
Released in 1877, Atlantis is an epic poem composed of ten cantos that recount the collapse of the ancient continent of Atlantis. Its plot is based on the sinking of Atlantis, blending it with nature and its whims. It employs literary devices such as alliteration, hyperbaton, comparisons, metaphors, and personifications, using the hendecasyllable verse typical of epic poetry.
Canigó
Published in 1886, Canigó embodies many romantic ideals of recovering the medieval past of a people and its heroic figures. It consists of twelve cantos and draws its main theme from the legend of Gentil. It tells the story of Gentil’s love affair with Flordeneu and his betrayal by his uncle. Hurt by this betrayal, Gentil kills his uncle. This leads to a fight with his father’s uncle, but they are reconciled thanks to Abbot Oliva.
Verdaguer’s Poetry
Verdaguer’s poetry uses simple expressions of the people and a straightforward lexicon, aimed at the common person. Patriotic and religious themes were central aspects of his poetry.
Prose Works
His prose emerged during moments of intense internal conflict. To be understood and to counter accusations (exorcisms, dementia, misappropriation of money), his prose needed to be clean, clear, and functional.
Travel Books
- Excursions and Travels (1887): Describes tours of the Pyrenees and trips made through the Mediterranean and Central Europe.
- Diary of a Pilgrim (1889): Recounts his journey to the Holy Land.
These works are now considered part of the journalistic report genre.
Periodical Articles
Between 1895 and 1897, Verdaguer published articles in the press, defending himself against allegations and claiming he was a victim of slander.
Tales
The volume Tales (1905) brings together legends, folk tales, and adages that Verdaguer learned as a child.
Verdaguer: Creator of Modern Catalan Literature
Among supporters of archaic language and proponents of popular Catalan, Verdaguer merged these two trends to create correct, expressive, clear, and functional prose. Verdaguer helped the Catalan language re-emerge with literary splendor.
Àngel Guimerà as a Poet
Guimerà’s relevance as a poet: “He was a man who decisively collaborated in the revival of the genre, who participated in the Floral Games in 1877 and earned the title of Mestre en Gai Saber.”
Characteristics of His Poetry
Àngel Guimerà’s poetry collections include: Poems (1877) and Glorioso (1913). The main characteristics of his works were:
- The epic nature
- The religious aspect
- The idealization of rural life
Theatre and Language
Theatre was deeply rooted in Catalan culture at the grassroots level, reflecting their tastes and living language, categorized as “theater worship.”